732 Chapter 25
Beginnings in BelgiumBelgium led Europe in adopting
Britain’s new technology. It had rich deposits of iron ore
and coal as well as fine waterways for transportation. As in
the United States, British skilled workers played a key role
in industrializing Belgium.
Samuel Slater had smuggled the design of a spinning
machine to the United States. Much like him, a Lancashire
carpenter named William Cockerill illegally made his way to
Belgium in 1799. He carried secret plans for building spin-
ning machinery. His son John eventually built an enormous
industrial enterprise in eastern Belgium. It produced a vari-
ety of mechanical equipment, including steam engines and
railway locomotives. Carrying the latest British advances,
more British workers came to work with Cockerill. Several
then founded their own companies in Europe.
Germany IndustrializesGermany was politically divided
in the early 1800s. Economic isolation and scattered
resources hampered countrywide industrialization. Instead,
pockets of industrialization appeared, as in the coal-rich
Ruhr Valley of west central Germany. Beginning around
1835, Germany began to copy the British model. Germany
imported British equipment and engineers. German
manufacturers also sent their children to England to learn
industrial management.
Most important, Germany built railroads that linked its
growing manufacturing cities, such as Frankfurt, with the
Ruhr Valley’s coal and iron ore deposits. In 1858, a German
economist wrote, “Railroads and machine shops, coal mines
and iron foundries, spinneries and rolling mills seem to spring up out of the ground,
and smokestacks sprout from the earth like mushrooms.” Germany’s economic
strength spurred its ability to develop as a military power. By the late 1800s, a uni-
fied, imperial Germany had become both an industrial and a military giant.
Expansion Elsewhere in Europe In the rest of Europe, as in Germany, industri-
alization during the early 1800s proceeded by region rather than by country. Even
in countries where agriculture dominated, pockets of industrialization arose. For
example, Bohemia developed a spinning industry. Spain’s Catalonia processed
more cotton than Belgium. Northern Italy mechanized its textile production, spe-
cializing in silk spinning. Serf labor ran factories in regions around Moscow and
St. Petersburg.
In France, sustained industrial growth occurred after 1830. French industrial-
ization was more measured and controlled than in other countries because the
agricultural economy remained strong. As a result, France avoided the great social
and economic problems caused by industrialization. A thriving national market
for new French products was created after 1850, when the government began rail-
road construction.
For a variety of reasons, many European countries did not industrialize. In some
nations, the social structure delayed the adoption of new methods of production.
The accidents of geography held back others. In Austria-Hungary and Spain, trans-
portation posed great obstacles. Austria-Hungary’s mountains defeated railroad
builders. Spain lacked both good roads and waterways for canals.Industrialization in Japan
With the beginning of the Meiji
era in Japan in 1868, the central
government began an ambitious
program to transform the country
into an industrialized state. It
financed textile mills, coal mines,
shipyards, and cement and other
factories. It also asked private
companies to invest in industry.
Some companies had been in
business since the 1600s. But new
companies sprang up too. Among
them was the Mitsubishi company,
founded in 1870 and still in business.
The industrializing of Japan
produced sustained economic
growth for the country. But it also
led to strengthening the military and
to Japanese imperialism in Asia.Analyzing Causes
What factors
slowed industrial-
ization in Germany?PACIFIC
OCEANSeaof
Japan
JAPANCHINA